


A Promise Kept

by HarleyEve



Category: Jack et la mécanique du cœur | Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, F/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Romance, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28377045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleyEve/pseuds/HarleyEve
Summary: Sweet stories about how Joe took care of Acacia when they were children and why she never quite saw him as more than a friend.
Relationships: Acacia/Joe
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

_“Who is that?”_

_“A new girl I suppose.”_

_“I heard the teachers say she’s a foreigner.”_

_“A foreigner? What’s a foreigner doing here?”_

_“Papa says they just bring disease and steal our money.”_

_“Oh gross. Don’t get close to her then.”_

_“There’s no point. She doesn’t even know how to speak English.”_

_“So she’s simple then. Of course she is.”_

Pfft. Simpletons. None of them have ever left the city. Not surprising. Most of them are only 6. I’m not. I’m 7. I’ve at least left the city before. And I knew a beauty when I saw one. I was sure she was a treasure. This new foreigner was a gift to this dreary city. She contrasted with our grey walls so beautifully that the other kids simply couldn’t stand it. Then again, neither could I. I couldn’t do more than steal glances at her for he first day. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was because she intimidated me or if it was the children around me. Either way I couldn’t lift my head that first day, much less say a word to her.

I went home that night and brushed up on my Spanish with one of the maids at home.

Of course, I was much more composed speaking with the maid.

“Buenos días.”

She looked at me shocked to hear a voice. The whole yard seemed shocked to hear me speak. “Bue-buenos días.”

“¿Tienes un nombre?”

“A-Acacia.”

“Acacia. ¿Sabes inglés? 

She shook her head violently. Poor little bird looked terrified. Perhaps I was trying too hard to seem composed. I smiled a bit and her demeanor immediately changed. Rather than terror her giant eyes looked at me with such wonder that I was paralyzed. She had more light in her eyes than this whole city had in the middle of summer.

“D-debes aprender. Nadie en esta ciudad te va a aceptar si no hables inglés. ¿Me entiendes? Todos son tontos y patéticos, pero los necesitas.”

“¿Y tú? Te están mirando como un traidor.”

I scoffed at the idea. “Ellos no saben, pero soy superior que ellos. Lo sabrán rápidamente. Y te prometo, cuando saben, te protejo.”

She looked at me skeptically. “Pero ¿por qué?”

I smiled. “Porque te amo.”

That was the day I began to take charge. Rather than intertwine myself with the students for future connections as my grandfather had suggested, I made myself their king. I protected her from girls who thought too highly of themselves. I protected her from boys who tried to create power by hurting her.

She learned English quickly enough and blossomed like a dandelion within the concrete I had cracked for her. Even when I eased up and the sharp side-glances returned, she paid no mind. Perhaps because she couldn’t see them.

She couldn’t tell one child apart from the next, but she knew I wasn’t one of them. She knew which silhouette to run to with a smile, even before I towered over all of them. I always had a tiny star by my side in our dreary city. A tiny, singing star that needed me for guidance.

And then she was gone.

And the world darkened and froze.

I failed in my promise and paid for it with my tiny stars.

Our peers had always seemed pathetic, but now they were all just a blur of grey, empty faces. Time would just waste away for me now. At 11 I hardly had the resources to go find her, but I would one day. I would find her one day and use my promise to set my world ablaze again.

For my tiny star.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of years after Acacia first arrives in Edinburgh, Acacia has been struggling in school and Joe makes it his business to find out why.  
> _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joe watched over the school gate from the classroom window anxiously.

During class, his heart skipped a beat every time he heard heels on the hardwood floors; but the gait was always wrong.

Despite the other children’s cries for his attention, Joe was again fixated on iron school gates during recess. And again during lunch.

When the students were released for lunch, Joe stayed back to ask her teacher about Acacia’s whereabouts, but she didn’t have an answer for him. He asked to stay back in class to copy the notes on the board for her. She obliged him, complimenting him for being so compassionate towards a foreign student. Truthfully, he wanted to listen to the teachers gossip in the next room.

Based on the information gathered, Miss Acacia had been falling behind for months. She had been struggling with even basic questions on the board. They didn’t expect her to recover academically. She was foreign anyway. She wasn’t their responsibility. She’d drop out and join the work force within the month.

After school, Joe excused himself from his peers’ invitations to their homes. Instead, he snuck away from prying eyes and took a hidden alleyway to the East side of town. He’d seen Acacia make her way down this worn path a number of times, but always decided against overstepping his boundaries. She never invited him and he refused to beg or sneak. Unfortunately for his manners and pride, his anxiety was too great. He needed to see what was wrong.

Despite his youth, Joe’s stride kept the populace at a distance. No one wanted to interfere with the glowering boy wearing a luxurious coat; not the adults who knew him by name, nor the children who did not. Even petty thieves shivering in the wet Edinburgh cold decided against stopping the boy for his fine clothes.

But Joe wasn’t unaware of the risk. If he started to circle the neighborhood looking for Miss Acacia, his bravado wouldn’t be enough to protect him.

Suddenly, a melancholy little tune rang in Joe’s ear.

“Luna lunera, cascabelera  
Ve dile a mi amorcito por dios que me quiera  
Dile que no vivo de tanto padecer  
Dile que a mi lado debiera volver.”

Joe turned his head and tried to locate the direction of the lullaby. Once he decided on a direction his pace quickened, like a dog tracking a rabbit.

  
“Dile que me muero que tenga compasión  
Dile que se apiade de mi corazón.  
Ay lunita redondita  
Que la espuma de tu luz  
Bañe mis noches.  
Ay lunita redondita  
Dile que me has visto tu  
Llorar de amor.  
De amor”

Miss Acacia’s lullaby led Joe straight to her little apartment where he found her fussing over a patch of rich dirt against the wall of her building. The patch was filled with withered weeds, but little more.

Joe approached slowly, careful not to interrupt her as she hummed her little melody. He decided the decent thing to do would be to wait outside the gate until she noticed him and invited him in.

Joe waited a while, watching her frown at brown wilted plants that Joe had initially assumed were dead weeds. She would frown, clip the dead stems, water a plant, and begin to hum. Sometimes she would feel the dirt for some reason, then look up at the cloudy Edinburgh mournfully.

Eventually Joe realized how rude his plan of action waswas. His cheeks burned with the foreign feeling of embarrassment as he became hyper aware of the amount of time he simply stood there watching her. He cleared his throat to grab her attention and Acacia turned immediately.

“Oh! Joe. What are you doing here?” Miss Acacia called as she stood up and brushed her hands off on a tattered gardening apron.

Joe straightened and held out a small folder with scraps of paper inside. “I brought you some notes for school. I thought you might want to look them over.”

“That’s sweet of you, thank you.” Acacia took the folder from Joe, but didn’t invite him in. “Honestly, these may be the first legible notes I have from class in almost a month.”

“And why is that?” Joe had never thought to ask Acacia about anything as mundane as schoolwork. None of the students had ever mentioned her performance, but maybe that was just around Joe.

“Honestly, I can’t read,” Acacia explained with a downward glance.

“You can’t read?”

“Well, I can read. Honestly, I learned to read English books relatively quickly. If it’s a book in front of me I don’t have a problem, but if it’s a lesson on the board… I have a lot of trouble. I've all but given up on trying to follow lessons.”

Joe thought on this for a moment. “What does that plaque there say?” Joe asked suddenly, pointing towards the title of the building not 3 feet away from them.

Acacia squinted. “Watson Building.”

“And that street sign over there?”

Acacia crossed her arms and huffed. “I know it says Crescent.”

Joe furrowed his brow. “But can you read it?”

Acacia pouted and her cheeks turned red with embarrassment. Joe may only be 9, but he knew what that meant.

“You need glasses,” he stated plainly

“No I don’t!” Acacia whined.

“You can’t see.”

“I can make do.”

“No wonder you can’t recognize any of the children. You can’t see their faces.”

“Oh... their bitter faces. Who needs to see them anyway?”

Joe couldn’t argue with that. “But you need to be able to see in class.”

Acacia crossed her arms and turned away from Joe. “Oh, what’s the use. I’m too far behind anyway.”

Joe frowned. “You learned fluent English in less than a year. I think you’re capable of catching up to a gaggle of children.”

Acacia looked at Joe in shock, slowly taking in the impact of his words. Finally she relaxed and giggled to herself.

“Did I say something funny?”

“You talk like you’re not a child yourself.”

Joe was taken aback, but decided against making any comment on the subject. “Why don’t you come to my house tomorrow? I have a physician at home who can help you get glasses.”

“I said I don’t want glasses,” Acacia argued, thorns appearing suddenly around her shoulders.

Joe didn’t flinch. “I insist. I’ll have our driver take us so the children at school don’t gawk at you for too long.”

Acacia huffed, but the thorns retracted as she smiled at him. “Well if you weren’t getting me glasses, I’d never see them gawk at me.”

Joe took this as a concession and nodded. “Thank you for allowing me to do this for you. I’ll be headed home then. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Acacia interlaced her fingers on her chest. “All of this is very sweet of you, Joe. Honestly. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s my pleasure, Miss Acacia. Have a good evening,” Joe said with a stiff bow.

Acacia laughed and curtsied dramatically. Joe breathed a laugh and turned to leave, his stomach calm and his heart in knots. He’d never reiterated his feelings for her, but he hoped she understood.


End file.
